Grey skies over the pretty Czech town did nothing to dampen the excitement and spirit of the 2018 Karlovy Vary World Cup on Sunday, where Vendula Frintova and Dmitry Polyanskiy rose to the occasion to deliver superb golds in testing conditions.
Persistent drizzle overnight left the road surfaces slick and the athletes wary, making Frintova’s victory all the sweeter as she dug deep to out-sprint Estonia’s Kaidi Kivioja with just 150m to go and take the tape. Italy’s Annamaria Mazzetti marked her return to Olympic-distance triathlon with an excellent third place after the trio had left the rest of the field in their wake over the final 2km of the run.
For the men, it was another impressive display from Polyanskiy that saw him home ahead of Ireland’s Russell White and Italy’s Alessandro Fabian after the trio had been locked in a gripping battle from the very first paces of the run.
